Posted on 07/20/2010 7:29:25 AM PDT by Antioch
Teen soap opera Degrassi has been renowned for tackling the tough issues, including its realistic and inclusive portrayal of gay and lesbian characters. But gay football player Riley is old news now that the show is introducing its first-ever transgender character. I can’t think of many transgender characters that have appeared on television, and I certainly don’t recall any transgender teenagers popping up on my radar. This is one more step toward making Degrassi just about the coolest series to ever exist.
The new season starts on Monday, July 19th, and introduces the trans character, Adam, shortly thereafter. The teenage groundbreaker is played by actress Jordan Todosey. The perky star of the kids show Life With Derek transformed herself for the role - chopping off her long blonde locks and adopting a more masculine swagger.
"The writing is good, they really go there with that kind of stuff and I think that this character can really speak for anybody who is outcast or bullied or transgender or anything like that," Todosey says.
The show airs on TeenNick (and the Canadian station Muchmusic) and will no doubt cause controversy, something that the show has been doing for the last thirty years - most famously with an abortion episode that was never aired in the United States. Part of the allure of the Degrassi franchise is finding new ways to represent teenagers on television.
"I can truly say that when we decided to do this episode we realized this is brand new territory for us," producer, director and actor Stefan Brogren told CTV. "We've never even tried to breach this subject before. Of course we've dealt with gay and lesbian stories but you can't approach this the same way."
Brogren and his team consulted with various LGBT groups to make sure that the scripts accurately and respectfully reflected a trans teenager. Adam will originally keep his secret hidden, but things reportedly come to a boil when the school finds out the truth in the August 11 and 12 episodes. The show is tackling the tough issues here - things like when you should tell people you are transgender and the ideas behind why you even have to share that information. On top of that, Adam will have a homophobic stepbrother, Drew, as well as a series of confrontations with bullies at school.
One of the things that makes me most optimistic about this entire storyline is the producers desire for Adam to stick around in the long-term. “We want to make sure that this character is loved and develops a fan base," Brogren says. I think it's possible, how about you?
What is Degrassi?
... crazy as a hoot owl.
It's one thing to watch your society go down the drain. It's something else to man the plunger.
TV “entertainment” doesn’t exist to entertain. It exists to spread propaganda and change those eeeevvvvil normal people’s minds - they’re just biased prejudiced slobs. The “entertainment” part is just to get people to watch it, thinking that they are being entertained.
Watch a TV show about 5 minutes and you’ll see its agendas.
I’m praying that the fascination with perversion wears off soon and society’s view of homosexuals returns to where it belongs: they are freaks, not “cool”.
There. . .fixed it.
Although not as radical as mangling your body to pretend you are a different sex, though maybe related, I have noticed two kids now who have put big tubes in their ears to stretch them out like some of the Africans in old National Geographics. And I’d put these extreme tattoos in the same category of body mangling. Maybe I’m just a fuddy duddy but it seems qualitatively different than simply a fashion.
That is one weird show! I remember seeing it as a kid a few times and thinking it was very odd (as a kid mind you).
A homosexual propaganda machine.
Yet another reason why I watch less and less TV these days. I’m just sick and tired of all the moral depravity that passes for entertainment now. Screw it - I’ve got better things to do.
So THAT's what was missing from "The Waltons" !!!
Ike Godsey as a transgendered whatsit.
Maybe not.
Ya, it’s pure propaganda. You know this because they say that they talked to the Lesbian, Gay, Trans whatever groups to make it an “accurate” portrayal, meaning a sympathetic portrayal. And the story lines with the “homophobic” step brother and bullies will show the trans-whatever hero coming out of it looking brave and dignified, while the others will look bad from their confrontations.
Why do the gay groups talk about people as “homophobic”? Homophobia means fear of homosexuals. I don’t think people who oppose the gay agenda fear homosexuals.
Of course that word is supposed to stop all debate and discussion about issues. Just as racism is charged if one says anything about certain minorities, to put people on the defensive and stop debate.
The show sounds like a great advertisement for homeschooling. Any parent thinking about making the effort or needing confirmation for their homeschooling exertions should get encouragement by watching an episode of this DeGrassy monstrosity.
My wife and I are the local Catholic untouchables in our Canadian liberal, hipster neighbourhood. We often see these young people on their electric bikes with strange tubular cases slung over their backs. For the longest time it was a mystery till it dawned on us that they were yoga mats. Now we just refer to them as as adherents of the cult of the body carrying their sacred scrolls to evening navel worship.
Degrassi is Canadian teen drama where the girls are either bi-sexual, pregnant, get abortions or are bullied by boyfriends and classmates. The boys don’t fare any better as they are either female abusers, gay, or racists.
Not very convincing, but then again, I'll bet Degressi's producers were shackled by some archiac Canadian law that states that you can't surgically alter minors or inject them with estrogen for entertainment purposes.
If you’re a he, mutilating your body will not make you a she. Or vice versa.
It will make you an IT !
It’s a cheesy teen soap made and set in Toronto. Bloody awful.
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